Speaking in Manhattan, 70-year-old GOP presumptive nominee and real estate tycoon Donald Trump called Democratic presumptive nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton a “world class liar,” enriching herself at the expense of the world and American public. Trump’s salvos focused on Hillary using the State Department to make covert deals with foreign governments, enriching herself and the Clinton Foundation, whose major donors remain anonymous. Focusing on foreign policy mistakes, Trump cited Hillary’s backing of the Iraq War that turned the Middle East into a terrorist haven. While Hillary’s called her decision to back former President George W. Bush’s Iraq War a “mistake,” she doesn’t acknowledge the consequences that have swept the Middle East, North Africa and now threaten the European Union. Hillary understood the disastrous consequences as secretary of state of toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein April 10, 2003.
Flooding Iraq with Islamic terrorism giving rise to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], Trump argued that Hillary’s policy of toppling Libya strongman Col. Muammar Gaddafi Aug. 24, 2011 turned Libya into another Iraq, promoting terrorism and destruction to the region. Trump echoed the critique of Hillary’s chief rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that Hillary’s propensity to topple Mideast dictators shows failed judgment in foreign policy. Hillary calls Trump’s accusations “outrageous lies,” yet her foreign policy record speaks for itself. Trump worked hard in his June 22 speech to show how special interest groups and foreign governments influence Hillary’s domestic and foreign policy. Nowhere is that more obvious than Hillary’s current policy of toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. After taking millions from Saudi Arabia and Gulf Cooperation Counci [GCC]l states, Hillary’s policy on Syria rubber stamps their policy of toppling al-Assad.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), before recently backing Hillary for president, criticized Hillary for taking Wall Street cash, pointing out in her 2003 book “A Fighting Chance,” that Hillary changed her vote on the 2001 Bankruptcy Bill, backing big banks after taking special interest money. Now that Warren’s on Hillary’s side, that kind of influence no longer matters. Sanders staked his campaign on Hillary’s Wall Street Super-PAC, raising over $15 million in campaign cash. Bernie provoked Hillary into rage over tying Hillary to Wall Street special interests. Bernie echoed Warren’s critique of Hillary, saying she was too beholden to Wall Street’s big banks. Bernie pushed Hillary to release her transcripts of paid three paid speeches to Wall Street kingmaker Goldman Sachs, netting her $675.000. Hillary refused to release the transcripts, citing privacy concerns. Her refusal to release the transcripts adds to her lack of trustworthiness.
Trump raised the issue of some 33,000 deleted emails on Hillary’s private server, offering proof on her deceptiveness regarding her work at the State Department. Though calling her use of a private email server a “mistake,” she broke State Department rules, often excusing her actions as something routinely practices by her predecessors, former Secretaries of State Colin L. Powell and Condoleezza Rice. Both rarely used any email. Hillary discredits Trump’s accusations about taking cash from special interests and foreign governments, often repeating “he has no proof.” Media outlets are also quick to discredit Trump’s sources, citing dubious books like Peter Schweizer’s “Clinton Cash.” What the media doesn’t get is that the public has a right to know how much cash Hillary and the Clinton Foundation received from foreign governments, especially Saudi Arabia and the GCC states. It’s against the U.S. Espionage Act to take cash from foreign government.
Hillary’s campaign and sympathetic media sources dismiss charges of foreign corruption as part of the right wing’s attempt to discredit her. When pressed to release donations to the Clinton Foundation from foreign governments, it’s always the same answer: Our donor lists are confidential. Hillary’s admits proudly the fact that she and former President Bill Clinton were broke, $8 million in the hole, when they left office Jan. 20, 2001. Both have a net worth estimated around $120-$150 million. Bill and Hillary claim they’ve given 729 speeches since 2001, netting $153 million or $210,795 per speech. Those figures don’t add up. Hillary’s problem isn’t how much she’s earned but from whom she’s taken the cash and how it affects her domestic and foreign policy decision-making. Hillary needs to explain the logic of backing the Saudi-funded proxy war to topple Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, when she knows what happened in Iraq and Libya.
Trump’s speech against Hillary raised so many objections it overwhelms the press, discrediting the argument as partisan politics. When it comes to taking large sums of cash from Saudi Arabia and the GCC states, it’s not partisan politics. Whether it’s legal or not to funnel cash from foreign governments into an IRS 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization, it’s still responsible to ask how it influences foreign policy. Before one’s elected president, the public has a right to know how foreign or domestic cash influences policy. While Warren no longer cares about how Wall Street influences Hillary, the public—and world—has a right to know how Saudi Arabian and GCC cash influence Hillary’s position on the Syrian War. Backing the Saudis, Hillary assures that the worst refugee crisis since WWII will continue to spiral out of control. Neighboring Mideast countries and Europe can’t accommodate the refugees without more chaos and upheaval.
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